1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products related to analysis of websites.
2. Background and Relevant Art
As the Internet and the accompanying Internet commerce have expanded, various website owners continuously seek to track a variety of data about individuals who visit their websites. In particular, website owners often wish to gather a variety of different analytic data about the visitors who view their webpage. In many cases, this analytic data can be used to determine what advertisements to display to a visitor and to determine what fees are due to be paid to various external advertisers.
One conventional method for generating analytic data and/or determining what advertisement to provide to provide to website visitors is through the use of tags. In at least one conventional form, a tag is a hidden element within a webpage that causes some action to occur on a webpage when it is fired. In particular, in at least one implementation, a tag is a piece of code that is placed within a webpage and allows a webpage owner to track information about the visitors who download and execute the particular piece of code. For example, a tag can comprise a reference to a transparent GIF or a tracking pixel, which is placed within the code of a webpage. The actual transparent GIF or tracking pixel can be stored on a separate server from the actual webpage. When the client system executes the web page and encounters the code for the tag, the client system will then request the transparent GIF or tracking pixel (referenced within the tag) from the separate server. When the separate server receives the request from the browser for the transparent GIF or tracking pixel, the server can gather various analytic data about the requestor.
For example, once executed, the server providing the GIF or tracking pixel, can gather information such as where the visitor came from (e.g., what webpage or search engine), what keywords were used to find the webpage, whether a particular advertisement directed a visitor to the page, and other related data. In many situations, a webpage can comprise multiple tags from a variety of different parties. For example, a particular webpage may contain a Google Analytics tag, a Facebook tag, a page-counter Tag, a weather tag, and other common tags. In at least one implementation, a tag can merely comprise a particular call to an external advertising server.
In addition to embedding tags within a webpage, tags can also be associated with a video file. For example, when playing a video file on a webpage, the video player can fire tags at specific points and request specific advertisements. In at least one implementation, a video player executes tags in accordance with the Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) specification. As such, tags associated with a video can ensure that the proper advertisements are displayed and can further inform a website administrator how much of a video a particular website visitor viewed.
As Internet speeds have increased and as online entertainment has become more pervasive, a large number of Internet users view Internet video in one form or another. As the viewership of Internet videos has increased, content providers have also become more interested in ensuring that the various tags embedded within their video content are operating correctly.
Auditing Internet video, however, presents several unique challenges. For example, Internet video is generally not provided in a source code form that can be readily parsed and analyzed. Additionally, some video content is launched based upon timed events on a webpage, as such, it is difficult for an audit system to correctly identify and audit all of the video available on a website. Accordingly, there are a number of problems in the art relating to the creation of rules for a tag management system that can be addressed.